Attorney guilty of prostitution agrees to 3-year suspension of law license

An attorney who had sex in exchange for office supplies for her legal practice and later pleaded guilty to prostitution charges has agreed to have her law license suspended for three years, state records show.

Reema Bajaj, 27, a Northern Illinois University law school graduate who became a licensed attorney in 2010, worked as a call girl between 2005 and 2011, according to the complaint filed against her by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.

She posted online ads under the name Nikita and accepted money, DVDs, gift cards and supplies for her law practice in Sycamore from two men in exchange for sex, the complaint alleged.

Bajaj pleaded guilty last year in DeKalb County to a misdemeanor count of prostitution for an encounter that occurred before she became an attorney. She was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and ordered to pay $2,500 in fines. She completed her community service by doing free legal work and volunteering at an animal shelter, according to records.

The ARDC complaint accuses Bajaj of criminal conduct and making false statements in both a disciplinary matter and on her bar application by not disclosing her work as a call girl.

Only one other attorney has been disciplined by the state for a prostitution conviction, according to the ARDC.

Bajaj's agreement to have her law license suspended for three years is scheduled to go before a disciplinary board panel later this month, records show. If the panel approves the agreement, it would then be sent to the Illinois Supreme Court, which has the ultimate authority over attorney discipline.

Attorneys for a motorist who was fatally shot by two Chicago police officers told a federal jury Tuesday that the officers lied on the witness stand last week and had no legal justification to pull him over shortly before the deadly confrontation.